I have found the HX50v a delight to use but you need to factor your end goals with respect to the camera's capability. If you are happy with 8x10 photos (maybe a bit more), then its image quality is fine for me. As there is no raw, you have to be more exacting of your exposures or bracket a bit more to get the look you want. I find the jpegs not too flexible to post processing.

But given these limitations, I'm very happy with the camera's versatility. Here are some of my recent island photos...

Alex

Sunrise at Bantayan Island

This crab was about 5 inches across and some 15 ft away from me. The Hx50's zoom came in handy to catch this fellow perched on a pole. Did not realise they could climb!